It is well documented that that the process of healing, growth and regeneration in living tissue is brought about by the flow of the body's own natural electrical current. Assisting the human body's natural healing tissue by applying electrical signals to the body in a form of therapy known as electrotherapy has been described in various publications. Electrotherapy is used in wound healing, pain treatment and muscle stimulation.
Effective electrotherapy requires the use of suitable electrodes or pads for administering electrical signals to the skin. For treatment to be successful, electrodes must be effectively electrically coupled to the skin. Accomplishing such an effective coupling is not evident when applying electrodes to uneven skin surface and curved body parts. Any such electrode device must therefore be sufficiently flexible to accommodate the curvaceous nature of the human body and to accommodate relative movement of patients skin during therapy. Precise placement of electrodes on the body is another important requirement influencing the outcome of treatment.
Various electrodes for application of electrical signals to the skin have been proposed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,450,845 describes a medical electrode system which includes a flexible electrically conductive patch disposed on an electrically non-conductive backing material. The basic electro-conducting and electrical distribution portion of the electrode is washable and reusable. A separate disposable, adhesive, electrical conductive pad is used to couple this portion to the skin. One embodiment of the invention described uses a plurality of electrodes and a system for insuring proper placement of the electrode set on the body part.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,788,979 describes an electrical stimulation compress kit which allows for precise repeatable positioning of stimulation pads onto a body part. The device includes a flexible member for contacting a body part and hook/loop members for tightly supporting the flexible member against the body part.
The above systems suffer from the disadvantages that they are not effectively sealed against the ingress of moisture to exposed electrically conductive components of the electrode and that they must be connected to external leads and current generators in order to operate.